The Urban Renewal Project.

[Jeff Lloyd]

The question for today's poll is:

How should we finance the Urban Renewal Project?
Raise taxes or borrow the money?

Please feel free to vote and post your views on this topic.

[Alien]

raise taxes!

in fact the money we are taxed on alone can fund the project.
borrowing money will put us in a debt that we cant turn over or repay, but if the taxpayers pay for it, they will get exactly what they payed for.

any clean up campaign or renewal project in my mind should come from the taxpayers and citizens themselves, in fact to me it should b a civic duty an honorable one at that to be better, and mainatin a better cleaner enviornment.

[Jasmine]

A National Lottery could assist.

Funds generated could also be shared:

1. To raise salaries of Teachers, Nurses, Police Men, Defence Officers, Postal Workers etc;

2. For Family Island Development;

3. Help fund a National Health Scheme;

4. Provide more scholarships to C.O.B

And on, and on, and on ...............................

What are we waiting on? :walk:

[Rory]

we are waiting on the christian council to finally mind its own business, and the government to take a business management 101 course.

[Rory]

We need to forget a national lottery, and just start our own! :-)

[Delroy]

We have enough taxes Mr. Lloyd.
The churches can come together and fund this project.
Most churches in the Bahamas are in Urban communities right?

[Alien]

A National Lottery could assist.

Funds generated could also be shared:

1. To raise salaries of Teachers, Nurses, Police Men, Defence Officers, Postal Workers etc;
"yea and put those same persons in debt with paying for the lottery...creating more dispondency"2. For Family Island Development;
"the sharp rise in family island development will do more damage as urban developments will bring new challenges like crime criminal and moral, like prostitution and unfair bussiness practices"3. Help fund a National Health Scheme;
"the health sheme needs to be funded by the people, and if we can crack down on the foreigners and bahamians alike who benefit without paying for health care we would be just fine...the lottey may only raise the stakes on this problem, rather than solve it"
4. Provide more scholarships to C.O.B
"that i can agree with, but what about the money that can be benefitted by the stamp tax, realty taxes and custom taxes..those i feel would be a more significant supliment other than the lottery..which by the way will be corrupt in thsi society" And on, and on, and on ...............................
and on and on and on...only to create a bigger sesspool of vices!
What are we waiting on? :walk:
until the bahamian people find out a way to sacrifice themselves rather than that of others for them...we will continue...the lottery will only expose us to more immoral vice and raise the level of crookery!

[AmericanPhemmefatale]

AMEN :angel: I totally agree with that whole entire statement. Even though I am not Bahamian, when I visit the lovely country I would think the improvements would be somewhat vast. While the Bahamas is going into a development for urban renewal, why not create more technology accessed databases, such as going into a grocery store and being able to use a debit or credit card and not have to be told form employees themselves that the machines are old and out of date and dont work. Or making a public transit system other than those broke down Mitsuibitshi buses where the tourist and locals can get around. Money can be more valuable than its worth if you make good use out of it. :cutie:

[islandgyal]

"The churches can come together and fund this project.
Most churches in the Bahamas are in Urban communities right?"

no offense, but i'd prefer separation of church and state when it comes to urban renewal. this country is a collection of influences and cultures and religions, only one of which is christianity. if the churches were to fund the project, the next thing you know everyone would have to attend certain churches in order to take advantage of certain programs ... which situation crops up in the out islands every now and again. no thanks ...

[YorickBrown]

Raise taxes or borrow the money? I would have to say - NEITHER.

Raising general taxes will only yuck up the vexation of the Bahamian masses who already find their financial lives a bit challenging in this struggling economy. Borrowing the money only adds to the reliance upon others which currently plagues the Bahamian people (and our government).

What needs to happen in this country is the passing of Bahamian legislation related to E-commerce. Perhaps then we can really open all of our various markets to the international community. There are millions of dollars to be made over the internet, but it's too bad that our banks and our lawmakers do not have the foresight to embrace a technology that has the potential to greatly expand and develop the export market of The Bahamas.

Once the e-commerce export market is properly developed, the Bahamian government can then use the e-commerce licensing and regulation fees to fund projects like that of Urban Renewal. I have a more comprehensive plan in mind that can solve these issues of money, but I will not go into further details here.

Solutions like the aforementioned show that all our government needs to do is be more creative and "forward-thinking" in how to finance our local projects. We need to stop borrowing from other countries or taxing money out of our local peoples' pockets. There is a world of money out there. We just have to open our legislative processes in a way that we can get it.

[Soso]

How often is a poll conducted?

A poll a day or a week would keep the readers happy and thinking?

Just ma 2 cents.

[Melody]

What is urban Renewal really suppose to be? Is it really all about moving derelict vehicles and tearing down buildings and starting bands and programs?

I am not knocking what is being done, I am simply asking do we have the right concept?

I would think that it means putting life back into something that haslost its lustre and vitality. I thought that instead of destroying everything we would repair m renovate, restore to its former beauty.

First of all lets look at the derelict vehicles - why can't these cars or at least some of them go to a automechanic class at one of the schools and the children restore and refurbish them and sell them to raise funds to pay for their removal and also cover the cost of repairs.

Buildings - why instead of tearing down, if a building is structurely sound goverment does not acquire repair and sell to person's who can't afford a new home in the better and modern areas. Lots of persons don't really want to move out of the inner cities because it is close to every thing.

Children - There are already a lot of programs that need new ideas and energy put into them,some even need funds to get them where they should be. These are the programs that we should be channelling our energies and resources to. Why are we starting new programs that is why so much more money is needed.

The churches and civic organizations already have programs, why are they establishing new programs? What is going to happen when the police go back to their respective duties and housing go back to theirs and Social Service go back to theirs who is going to ensure the funding and efficient running of these programs. People only will volunteer for so long after that what?????

If Goverment change what is going to happen to Urban Renewal??????

Why are we paying such large salaries to persons when they don't have a clue as to what they are suppose to be doing.

Taxes????? don't raise mine for this program until we have a master plan in place to utilise all the things and recyles somethings to generate cash.

This is renewal lets restore and rebuild and replenish, start new businesses get people working then we would think about taxing. Too many persons are unemployed they can't afford to paint and fix up how are they gooing to pay more taxes???????

Mel